Sometimes, writing can be difficult, because there are just not words to describe how astounding something can be. Picture a freezing cold night, curled up tightly inside a thin canvas bag, under a sky full of the most stars I have ever seen. Crawling out of the bag and hopping around the campsite like a gremlin, looking for more firewood, and stepping over the sleeping people to drag it back to the fire. Loosing the feeling in your toes, and shaking so hard you wake the person next to you, and then hearing the wake up call that gets you into the van and ready to start to the day. Getting to kata tjuta and starting the hike, which leads you up into the domes if the red mountains. Everything is covered in a layer of powder, like the dust that falls from dreams, and the stories of the indigenous people are alive in the very roots of the earth. You pull yourself up step after step, starting to feel the heat on your back, and hear the famous rustle of the valley of the winds. Stopping for some much needed water, you taste the idly chlorinated flavour that seems to permeate all of the drinking water out here. All around you are new friends who have been part of your journey through Alice Springs. You smile at them, knowing that in this moment you are all touching parts of each others lives in a way that will never be forgotten, and encourage them to keep going up the valley. And as you near the top, you look out behind you and suddenly it all falls into place. You realise why you have climbed so long your knees shake. You turn to face the sunlight, and the shadows fall behind you as you absorb your surroundings. The view stretches out before you like a photograph hung between two mountains, or an oil painting on a canvas strung up in the back ground, too perfect to seem real. You are completely breathless, whether from the hike or the incredible scene in front of you is hard to tell. You are suspended for a time, hung in your awe and disbelief, and it makes you picture the moments in your future, and think about how beautiful life would be to always have days like this.
